38 special question
 

new to reloading and looking for .38 158 lead swc lead. I have found at Midway .38 but in .358 not .357 dia. I miked my jacketed bullets and I get.357 . .358 because they are soft lead? will they be ok to load?

RE: 38 special question
 

Should work just fine. Sometimes lead bullets will run just a bit big to make a good tight fit with the riflings and make a good gas seal.

RE: 38 special question
 

To elaborate a little on Tuk101's post...

The rifling in a bore designed with jacket bullets in mind will have much shallower rifling than a bore meant only for lead (i.e. almost all modern CF firearms). The copper or gilding metal jacket is a lot harder than lead and the shallow rifling grips it just fine and provides a good gas seal without causeing excessive engraving or pressure. The problem with lead, especially pure or the softer alloys, is that if the bullet were formed at the actual bore diameter (in your case, 0.357"), there would be the high likelihood that the shallow rifling would not get a good grip and would essentially wipe or shave away part of the bullet as it entered the rifling rather than immediately spinning it. This results in poor accuracy and bad lead fouling in the bore that, left unchecked, could cause what amounts to a partial bore obstruction, especially if jacketed bullets are fired. By casting/swaging the bullets to 0.001-0.002" over bore diameter, and by using harder lead alloys, they increase the probability that the lead bullet will firmly engage the rifling immediately and firmly. This is also why care must be taken when handloading cast lead bullets in high intensity cartridges (i.e. .44 Mag, .454 Casull, CF rifles, etc...) not to push the bullet to too fast, because the higher velocity can also cause serious leading to occur.

Mike

RE: 38 special question
 

I have used soft lead bullets from .356" to .358" in.38 Specials with good results. Harder bullets need to fit more closely. For this, you need to slug the bore and see what the groove diameteractually is.

BUT, when loading for a revolver, the bullet diameter must equal or slightly exceed (.001"-,002")the chambers' throat diameter because this is what the bullet must travel through to get into the bore. The bullets mustpass thru the chamber throats to get into the bore in good condition.